A Sanitation Toolkit for Food Retailers
The American Cleaning Institute has published a free online toolkit for food retailers and other businesses looking to learn more about how to clean and disinfect against the novel coronavirus.
The guidance and checklists are adapted from public health recommendations for businesses to ensure a safe and successful reopening, as well as to reinforce confidence among the workforce and customers through effective cleaning and disinfecting best practices.
The toolkit includes resources such as checklists to help guide internal assessments; posters and handouts to encourage and educate employees on proper disinfecting protocols in shared spaces; and decals for businesses to display reinforcing their dedication to cleanliness and health.
“For years, the American Cleaning Institute has been dedicated to sharing information on the safe and proper use of cleaning and hygiene products,” said Melissa Hockstad, ACI president and CEO. “As businesses and offices gradually reopen in stages during the global pandemic, we want to provide them with the tools they need to help guide their daily cleaning and hygiene routines. We know it’s important to show their employees and their customers that they are committed to proper cleaning, hygiene and health.”
If you are a food retailer, you might think that your No. 1 priority right now should be e-commerce or supply chain efficiency. While those certainly are important operational challenges to address, the most critical challenge in food retail today might just be finding a way to keep shoppers from being terrified of germs in your store.
According to a recent report from C+R Research, a Chicago-based market insights firm, 60% of American consumers are now too scared to shop at a grocery store due to the coronavirus. C+R Research recently surveyed more than 2,000 consumers to find out how the pandemic has changed their grocery shopping habits. More than 60% of consumers feel a sense of panic or anxiety about germs when they shop at a grocery store, and around 45% said that they disinfect their groceries when they bring them home.
The pandemic has shattered consumer confidence in the safety of grocery shopping, and for shoppers, the fear is all about sanitation and staying virus-free. While cleanliness has always been critical in food retail, the need to clean, sanitize and manage safety will never be as important as it is now, while this pandemic endures. Not only will retail sanitation measures need to be robust, but they’ll also need to be more effectively communicated for shoppers to maintain trust in the retailer.
